Hi Sarah,
I've actually been wrestling with wanting to write a serious answer here, seeing as you ask a lot of really great questions regarding pop culture and how much we as Christians are allowed to participate in it without compromising our faith.
I tried to watch some of the videos I posted but found them to be a bit uncomfortable (for myself.) I think it was the first one that mentions Fritz the Cat -- ironically, I just saw a review about the animated movie a few weeks ago, and the fact that it was given an X rating -- and was all to proud of that fact.
To me, this kind of illustrates the thin line that's drawn when giving human-like qualities are given to animals. I grew up with cartoons like Bugs Bunny, but once they started featuring characters who were highly sexualized (like Babs Bunny in Space Jam,) it made me very uneasy.
Unfortunately, our human minds aren't very good at distinguishing lines. Now, am I trying to say that anyone who watches such things or participates in "furry" event is going to develop some kind of deviant attraction to animals? Certainly not. But I also have to wonder what we are doing to our minds if we're frequently watching characters that are drawn and styled to be part human and part animal while participating in very human-esque courting behaviors.
You probably know a lot more about this than I do, but I have read that one of reasons hentai was born was because Japanese artists started producing more and more explicit portrayals of humans with non-human or human-like creatures in order to produce animated pornography that bypassed the censorship rules (feel free to correct me if I'm getting this wrong.) My point in this is that there are very strong undertones of human-like relationships and sexuality behind these stories, which further inches closer to blurring lines.
I couldn't watch the second video I clicked on (hope I didn't get it wrong by mistake) because the narrator was making some quote about having sex with a dog? I know you had mentioned that furries see themselves as being completely separate from zoophiles.
I do wonder though how well people (and especially young people who are forming their identities) can keep the lines drawn in their minds. If they are constantly watching shows in which a "cute" "cat-girl" (a girl who is actually genetially part cat in the show) falls in love with a "handsome" "wolf-boy" (again, a boy who, in the story, is actually genetically part wolf), how long does it take before fantasy and a desire to bring that into reality?
And I'm certainly not saying that anyone with an interest in anime or furries will eventually have deviant thoughts about animals.
But the other things I think about are the genre of "pony play," in which grown adults are sexually attracted to dressing up and make-believing that they are actual horses, not only acting as if they are real horses, but only wanting significant others who act like other horses, horse owners, or jockeys (complete with all the equipment, such as crops and chaps.) So here we have an instance of humans who are mentally trying to be animals in order to be with other humans... who also mentally trying to make themselves as animal-like as possible (or part of that particular animal-centered community.)
I have no doubt that things such a the furry community can be -- not as an absolute, but as a strong correlation -- a springboard to these kinds of fixations and behaviors.
I am a girl who obviously spent some time liking cartoons (as if my avatar isn't proof enough.) But as with any genre, the boundaries are going to be pushed and eventually trampled, and so I would suggest that a fine line of discernment might be how well a person is able to make a clear distinction between their hobby (furry fandom) and real life (responsibilities, dying to self,) as well as keeping a lid on the not-so-wholesome roads one might be tempted to travel (i.e., avoiding Fritz the Cat.)
If a person is spending all their free time pretending to be an animal or to acting as if they have animal-like qualities, that just might be a big red flag.
I've actually been wrestling with wanting to write a serious answer here, seeing as you ask a lot of really great questions regarding pop culture and how much we as Christians are allowed to participate in it without compromising our faith.
I tried to watch some of the videos I posted but found them to be a bit uncomfortable (for myself.) I think it was the first one that mentions Fritz the Cat -- ironically, I just saw a review about the animated movie a few weeks ago, and the fact that it was given an X rating -- and was all to proud of that fact.
To me, this kind of illustrates the thin line that's drawn when giving human-like qualities are given to animals. I grew up with cartoons like Bugs Bunny, but once they started featuring characters who were highly sexualized (like Babs Bunny in Space Jam,) it made me very uneasy.
Unfortunately, our human minds aren't very good at distinguishing lines. Now, am I trying to say that anyone who watches such things or participates in "furry" event is going to develop some kind of deviant attraction to animals? Certainly not. But I also have to wonder what we are doing to our minds if we're frequently watching characters that are drawn and styled to be part human and part animal while participating in very human-esque courting behaviors.
You probably know a lot more about this than I do, but I have read that one of reasons hentai was born was because Japanese artists started producing more and more explicit portrayals of humans with non-human or human-like creatures in order to produce animated pornography that bypassed the censorship rules (feel free to correct me if I'm getting this wrong.) My point in this is that there are very strong undertones of human-like relationships and sexuality behind these stories, which further inches closer to blurring lines.
I couldn't watch the second video I clicked on (hope I didn't get it wrong by mistake) because the narrator was making some quote about having sex with a dog? I know you had mentioned that furries see themselves as being completely separate from zoophiles.
I do wonder though how well people (and especially young people who are forming their identities) can keep the lines drawn in their minds. If they are constantly watching shows in which a "cute" "cat-girl" (a girl who is actually genetially part cat in the show) falls in love with a "handsome" "wolf-boy" (again, a boy who, in the story, is actually genetically part wolf), how long does it take before fantasy and a desire to bring that into reality?
And I'm certainly not saying that anyone with an interest in anime or furries will eventually have deviant thoughts about animals.
But the other things I think about are the genre of "pony play," in which grown adults are sexually attracted to dressing up and make-believing that they are actual horses, not only acting as if they are real horses, but only wanting significant others who act like other horses, horse owners, or jockeys (complete with all the equipment, such as crops and chaps.) So here we have an instance of humans who are mentally trying to be animals in order to be with other humans... who also mentally trying to make themselves as animal-like as possible (or part of that particular animal-centered community.)
I have no doubt that things such a the furry community can be -- not as an absolute, but as a strong correlation -- a springboard to these kinds of fixations and behaviors.
I am a girl who obviously spent some time liking cartoons (as if my avatar isn't proof enough.) But as with any genre, the boundaries are going to be pushed and eventually trampled, and so I would suggest that a fine line of discernment might be how well a person is able to make a clear distinction between their hobby (furry fandom) and real life (responsibilities, dying to self,) as well as keeping a lid on the not-so-wholesome roads one might be tempted to travel (i.e., avoiding Fritz the Cat.)
If a person is spending all their free time pretending to be an animal or to acting as if they have animal-like qualities, that just might be a big red flag.
You are actually right about Hentai, the “Tentacle Hentai” is especially infamous on this cause it would skirt by some Japanese laws, all because the “Tentacles” were covering up something. Plus, it doesn’t help that Japan has a culture of putting so much expectations on its children as they grow up, so when they can’t handle the pressure, might as well escape to anime/other stuff. That’s why a vast majority of Hentai is weird/awful, cause they do explore fetishes. Like NTR, and other stuff, including stuff you could call furry. The only reason I know this much is because, I have seen reviews of Hentai on YouTube, it was informative but it was before I knew God, wouldn’t go back.
Yeah, when you hear what furries do, you do can’t help but wonder if they can even be Christian, cause a lot, from how I see it when videos discuss them, it just seems like they want to escape reality and live as something else, which I don’t think is healthy. But they are people, like my brother’s furry friend, he met him while in the army, so it’s like if a furry could join the army, then there is other human stuff they probably do, like religion.
Yeah, that “Pony Play” stuff definitely doesn’t sound good and I wouldn’t be surprised if a Furry would do it, but that’s just how I honestly feel cause when you hear what furries have done, you can’t help but be worried for some of these people.
But yeah, I think at this point I don’t think furries are into religion, and that’s me stereotyping, cause all my knowledge comes from others talking on the subject, and not from an actual furry.
I was thinking about this thread at work, and the phrase “Devil’s advocate” came to me, cause I think I made this thread to not only inform people on furries, but to test and see what people would say, I got cheeky, but sometimes someone has to bring to light the dark stuff and play the Devil’s advocate to get a better understanding, to hopefully expand our mind with knowledge and that should also hopefully help us to serve people as Christians, cause you never know, what if a Furry decides to come to church and genuinely wants help. You never know, it could happen. But yeah I won’t bring up everything I know from the Internet, this will probably be the most obscure thing I make a thread about, cause I just find it interesting, everything else I know from the “deep-ness of YouTube/web” is stuff I would say...not worth discussing. I have learned stuff I didn’t want to on YouTube (My mind gets curious, darn you curious mind, clicking on thumbnails/titles that catch my eye) and I’m pretty sure it’s the same for other people, lol.